When I first watched the E3 2004 Zelda trailer almost 3 years ago, I literally fell out of my chair in a laughing fit, I was so incredibly excited. Twilight Princess, the name being announced exactly a year later, was Nintendo's answer to the harsh criticism of The Wind Waker's cartoony cel-shaded graphical style. It was also an attempt to match, or better yet surpass the epic feel of Ocarnia of Time, a game which is almost universally hailed as the greatest of all time. The road from E3 2004 to the launch of Wii was a long one. Indeed, no one even knew what Wii was for another 2 years after Twilight Princess was announced.
Unlike most I was actually glad to hear that the game was being delayed. The Wind Waker was severely lacking in the dungeon department, not in quality(I think it has some of the best in the series) but in quantity, solely because it was rushed to the Japanese market, as they had promised it would be out by the end of 2004. The wait was excruciating, however. Here was what looked to be the Zelda game we had all been waiting for, for nearly a decade, and it was still so far off. And when the news came that it was being ported to Wii, not only was I worried that they would compromise gameplay in order to use this new control mechanic (which, in my opinion, turned out to be true), but we'd have to buy a whole new system in order to play what was supposed to be Gamecube's last hurrah. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, and I was able to pick up the Gamecube version the day it was released
(even though that happened to be almost a full month after the Wii version), and played through the entire game in less than a week. Contrary to Nintendo's reports that even the most accomplished player would take upwards of 60 hours to beat the game, I was able to finish the main story and most of the side quests in under 40.
I nonetheless enjoyed every minute of those 40 hours, as Twilight Princess surpasses every Zelda game ever made in terms of presentation, graphics, and size. The story and characters exhibit a depth like never before, and the script is extremely well written, which brings me to my only problem: the lack of voice acting. Such great cut scenes would have been infinitely better if Nintendo had sprung for voice actors, as long as they were good actors, as bad voice acting is far worse than any kind of written dialogue. But regardless of this sole shortcoming Twilight Princess rivals Ocarina of Time is just about every way, and also surpasses it in some respects.
Graphics 10/10
By far some of the best graphics of the entire last generation, surpassed only by the likes of Resident Evil 4 or Final Fantasy XII. The amount of detail is staggering, especially considering that it is in fact running on The Wind Waker's engine, which had a very minimalist approach to its graphics. The ancient ruined architecture, rolling plains, crystal clear lakes and decrepit dungeons of Hyrule are all absolutely beautiful. Though obviously much more realistic than the last Zelda game, the visuals and animations retain a slightly cartoony look to them, a style very reminiscent of A Link to the Past, especially in terms of item and enemy design. Another impressive aspect of the graphics is the draw distance. No matter where you are in Hyrule Field, you can see the most distant landmarks over the horizon, be they the Great Bridge of Hylia, the tall obelisks of the Arbiter Grounds or Hyrule Castle itself.
But this is but one side of Twilight Princess' visual presentation, for there is also the Twilight Realm, a dark, dank, and eerie place that always appears to have a sense of dread hanging in the air. Instead of the black and white look originally used in the E3 2005 trailer the developers used their extra time to overhaul the Twilight Realm's appearance into a more saturated look, with blues and purples standing out, dark particles hanging in the air and a slight blurriness to it. The enemies of the Twilight Realm are also quite unique from the rest of the game, having an otherworldly, almost alien look to them.
Sound 8/10
The score is, as always, captivating, taking several classic songs and reinventing them(the Death Mountain music is one of my favourite arrangements), as well as lots of new, equally impressive music. The Hyrule Field theme, while quite good, still doesn't compare to Ocarina of Time's legendary multi-tracked field theme, or even to The Wind Waker's Great Sea music. Though there is little spoken dialogue, as usual there are plenty of grunts, screams or laughs from nearly every character, though Midna, an imp from the Twilight Realm and your partner throughtout the game, actually does speak, however in a different language that is translated through text. Worthy of note are the sound effects and music of the Twilight Realm, which are incredibly spooky, and actually have a sort of computerized sound to them, something truly alien to the medieval world of Hyrule.
Gameplay 10/10
As with all Zelda games the gameplay is top notch, with clever puzzles, tight battle mechanics and plenty of variation thanks to Link's array of tools and weapons. Plenty of old tools make a return, but there are some new ones that will definitely surprise you, one of which is used for what I think is one of the most fun boss battles in the history of the series. Staples like the Bow, Boomerang and Bombs are back, though all of them can be used in interesting new ways, and this also marks the first time the lantern has made an appearance in a 3D Zelda game. The dungeons are all fantastic, carrying on the amazing design put into The Wind Waker's, and although the standard forest/fire/water dungeons start off the trend, there is one particular dungeon, which happens to be my favourite, that is set in a very unexpected location. I'll say no more, but you'll likely know which one I mean
when you get to it. One major evolution in the controls is swordplay, as there are several sword techniques acquired throughout the game, similar to the ones in The Minish Cap, that add more moves to Link's disposal than ever before. There is also a much more convenient item select screen, brought up with a mere tap of the Control Pad.
I have one very minor gripe, and that is with the Rupee wallets. After The Wind Waker, in which you could hold 5000 Rupees, they scale it down to a mere 600. There is a 900 wallet but it is the reward for a very complex sidequest so for the bulk of the game you will likely have the smaller one. There are dozens upon dozens of chests holding 100 Rupees around Hyrule, but more than half the time they wouldn't fit in my wallet. Fortunately, unlike previous games, if they won't fit Link will simply put them back instead of them going to waste, but it is still very annoying. Again, this is a very minor annoyance, but I still really don't understand how they missed it, or why they would have done it intentionally.
Difficulty/Lifespan 8/10
Like I mentioned earlier, Nintendo's promise about the game's length ended up being broken. But when I thought about it, I probably would've taken much longer seeing the sights and playing the minigames had I not been so enthralled with playing through the main plot. Though I died a few times near the beginning, which was a welcome change from the Wind Waker is which I never died once, I still found the game quite easy, especially the bosses. For the mainstream gamer I think the difficulty is quite average, but for a person that has been playing Zelda games going on 15 years it's a cakewalk. I hope that Nintendo has a difficulty feature in the next game, they simply have to make enemies have more life and do more damage, and that will make all the difference. There is plenty of replayability, simply running around the enormous Hyrule Field fighting enemies is very fun, and there are
tons of minigames, including fishing, canoeing, snowboarding , a flying game in which you pop balloons, and several others. The fishing is especially engrossing, as there are several types of bait, varities of fish, and locations.
Overall 9.5/10
It's all to up personal opinion, but in mine this is the best Zelda game ever made, even if it follows a similar formula to it's predecessors, it also strays away from it, and improves on nearly every aspect of the already amazing series. It would have gotten a perfect score from me if it had full, good quality voice acting. It's a shame that such a great script and story had to be told through static text.
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